With a new Secretary General now officially confirmed as well as other senior officers, the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) is in a position to face the challenges that lie ahead. The rationalisation of the refugee operation in Mbarara and the restructuring recently implemented by the URCS, with Federation support will advance the development process while ensuring that the refugees continue to receive quality assistance.appeal no. 01.13/99
period covered: January - September 1999

Ethiopia Experiences Poor Meher Production as Food Crisis Continues
Food security conditions remain precarious in Ethiopia. According to Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC) records, the number of people in need of food aid now exceeds that of 1994, which was widely believed to have been the worst year for food security in Ethiopia since the famine of 1984/85.

HIGHLIGHTSAngola. Government offensives in the Central Highlands have resulted in new displacement and subsequent humanitarian needs. Very high prevalences of malnutrition have once more been re-ported in Malange among children and also adults, and thus the situation has not improved since the last survey in June and affects both IDPs and the resident population.

Consolidated UN report prepared by the Information Section of the UN Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia from information and reports provided by specialised UN agencies, media sources, the Ethiopian Government and NGOs.
Highlights

INTRODUCTION
This is the last of three annual issues of this report prepared by the FAO Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) on the food supply situation and cereal import and food aid requirements for all countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The report is designed to provide the latest analysis and information on the food situation in these countries to governments, international organizations and other institutions engaged in relief operations.

ROME (Reuters) - Serious food supply
difficulties are emerging in parts of east Africa, mainly due to unfavorable
weather, civil conflicts and pests, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization
said in a report released Wednesday.

The Government of Japan has decided to
extend through the World Food Programme (WFP) food aid totaling 4,100 million
yen to refugees and other afflicted persons in Africa, the Sudan and Kosovo,
who are facing a severe food shortage because of civil war and other causes.
Notes to this effect, covering three types of aid, were exchanged on December
14 (Tue) in Rome between Mr. Hiromoto Seki, Japanese Ambassador to Italy,
and Ms. Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the WFP.
The breakdown of the food aid is as
follows (types of food and value of the assistance in parentheses):

Rome, 13 December 1999 - The Minister
for Foreign Affairs, Lamberto Dini, met the President of the State of Eritrea,
Isaias Afeworki at the Farnesina today. Under-Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, Rino Serri, also attended the meeting.

Talks concerned the conflict between
Ethiopia and Eritrea, with regard to which Foreign Minister Dini reaffirmed
as he did last week to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia Italy's
full support for the mediation action carried out by the Algerian Presidency
of the Organization for African Unity.

SOMALIA: Puntland orders out three UN
staff
The UN this week received letters of
expulsion for three international staff members from the self-declared
state of Puntland in northeastern Somalia. The letters, from Puntland's
"interior minister" Hassan Abshir Farah, accused the three -
Eddie Johns of UNDP/UNCTAD, Remmelt Hummeyn of UNDP and Said Al-Naimari
of UNICEF - of "unsatisfactory services". heir